Standard tools for a night of Korean karaoke: laminated song book, obnoxious tambourine, crazy remote with too many buttons, and a mic with a disposable covering

Back in my UGA college years when I could afford such luxuries as spontaneity, my friends and I would frequently pile into a car on a random weekday night and drive 40 minutes on 316 from Athens to Atlanta just to karaoke.

It doesn’t matter if you can’t sing or carry a tune. It doesn’t even matter if you don’t like music (what are you, a robot?). As long as you are in good company, karaoke can mean good times for all.

New to Korean karaoke? It’s simple – you get a private room for your group (yup, its that literal), order lots of drinks and food, pick songs from a giant song book, and let the disco lights inspire you. Most Korean karaoke bars will have an extensive list of Korean music, impressive amount of American hits, and adequate sampling of international fare (Chinese, Russian, etc).

On February 11, 2015, I had the pleasure of hosting some of my mama frens for a Korean Valentines themed lunch at our Inman Park home, and it was one of the loveliest things, ever. I cooked up some spicy Korean foods and we combined some sweet treats from our favorite local bakeries. [Read more…]

Today is my daughter’s first birthday. As Korean traditions go, the first birthday (doljanchi) is a pretty big deal. While we put on a huge (as in venue, guest list, and extras) celebration for Isaiah’s first birthday, we decided to scale Amelia’s party down and keep it more intimate. They say it takes a village to raise a child, and it certainly is true. James and I couldn’t have managed this past year without the love and support from all our family and friends–Thank You to our entire support network for your words of encouragement, generosity, and babysitting!

Well, despite my cooking strike, I managed to get it together when my friend offered to let me harvest some of her giant sesame leaf crop and I made some Kkaenip (Korean for sesame leaves) Kimchi–which is apparently the Korean side dish that you can make a million different ways and it is nearly impossible to mess up. In other words, exactly the kind of banchan I make. 🙂 thanks, Cristina!

I’ve been in denial but I can’t avoid reality anymore – my sweet baby Amelia is no longer a newborn but an active, curious, infant. *Sob* Now that she’s 9 ½ month old, she insists on pulling herself up on everything and is already attempting to walk, much to this mama’s dismay. Diaper changes are nearly impossible because of her constantly squirming mass and I stopped trying to put pants on her weeks ago. Who needs pants anyway?

And as the Korean tradition goes, I have the duty of planning her first birthday party celebration. First birthdays are a huge milestone for any culture, but for the Korean culture especially, first birthdays often blow up to epic proportions and have a mind of their own. It’s a very special birthday in the Korean culture called the Doljanchi (돌잔치) or simply, Dol. And being the awesome mother I am, I haven’t planned anything yet. Perhaps this is because I might have gone a bit over the top with Isaiah’s Dol. Needless to say, I won’t be doing all that again. Amelia’s will be much smaller and without as much fanfare – but goshdarnit, she will have cake! (If not just to smash.)

The most affordable scenario would be to host a Dol at our house; however, our house is neither big enough or nice enough to host a super large party and honestly, I don’t want to clean all that much. So I am going the route of finding an outside venue to host Amelia’s Dol. Since I am going through the Dol planning process myself, I thought it would be helpful to list some popular Dol venues in the Atlanta area for all you future Dol planners (who like me, do not want to go through the work of hosting at home). And if not for a Dol, these venues make for great private parties/events, whatever your occasion may be.

I’ve been to a Dol on a farm and restaurants like Fleming’s and even heard of one being held at the Mandarin Hotel. This just proves that your Dol can be as unique or varied as you want it to be! The above list is simply a starting point and have successfully hosted many Dols. Being in the south, there are tons of country clubs, churches, community centers, and club houses that rent out their facilities for private events. And we can’t forget all the Atlanta restaurants with private dining options. (I found this list to be particularly useful.)

For additional Dol planning resources, might I recommend the following:

Public bathhouses can be intimidating. Having grown up in the states, the thought of public bathhouses was really odd to me. Sure, as a young child visiting relatives in Korea, I would go with my mom, grandmother, and aunts, and I suppose it wasn’t THAT weird … no, actually it was still weird. It’s not everyday that one parades around naked in front of a bunch of people, family or not. (Not for me at least.)

So when fellow Kimchi Belle, Sue, and husband surprised me with a spa day at Jeju Sauna last year, I was rather hesitant to say the least. While surprise spa days are awesome, spa days where I get butt naked in front of friends and strangers is most decidedly not. After some convincing and the fact that Sue is like a sister to me, I relented and went with her. And the outcome was rather surprising: it was kind of awesome. So much so, that despite my initial hesitations, James and I recently spent one morning at Jeju Sauna for some good, clean, fun. [Read more…]

I probably started working when I was 7 – true story. It all started off innocently enough with dumping ice in drink coolers or dusting canned goods. But by the time I was 13, I was old enough to man a cash register and have real conversations with customers. Here is one such conversation that I remember to this day:

Customer: (Plops a 6 pack of Budweiser on the counter)

Me: Hello. May I see ID please?

Customer: (Cynically raises an eyebrow.) Seriously, kid? How old are you? [I was 13.]

Me: Sir, I must see your ID.

Customer: (Stoically hands me his faded ID.)

Me: (Careful inspection for dramatic pause.) 1959. Okay that will be $5.29 please. Paper or plastic?

I haven’t been keeping up with the winter Olympics as much as I probably should, but I’ve watched enough to see Bob Costa’s oozing red eye (thanks, HDTV!), see a couple of boarders bite it on the ice, and tear up at the commercials of the 5-year olds dominating ski slopes. (I clearly need to go tiger mother on Isaiah now because all he wants to do is make poop out of play doh.) But as a Korean-American, I would be terribly remiss not to give a shout out to Korea’s darling ice queen: Yuna Kim (pronounced Yun-ah by true Korean standards).

Good luck, Yuna! Your short program yesterday was exquisite and brought tears of unashamed joy to your countrymen and women all across the world. You are loved and can do no wrong. All my guy friends want to date you and all my girl friends want to be your best friend. Koreans everywhere feel their pulse quicken when you step out on the ice, hold their breath with every triple axle you jump, and break out in a nervous sweat with every landing. Did you make the full rotation? Please don’t say that was an edge violation. Damn you slow motion!

Since I’m working from home today, I will probably be able to see her skate live from Sochi. That is, if my heart can take it. Can you imagine, another gold medal for the reigning champion? Bless her! Regardless of the outcome, we will be proud! And we will still continue to buy Samsung because she endorses it.

Today my daughter Amelia is 100 days old! Not only has she mastered tummy time and sleeping through the night, but she can coo with the best of them.

Why 100 days, you wonder? Back in the day, Koreans considered 100 days a significant milestone for the survival of a child’s first days of life. They even went so far as to prevent visitors and/or did not take the baby outside for the first 100 days. A bit paranoid? Yes. Do they still practice this today? No, of course not, but I did receive some raised eyebrows and disapproving comments from my relatives when I took Amelia out with me to run errands after just a couple of weeks. Maybe it’s a second child thing, but I learned with Isaiah that the best time to take babies out is when they’re super young because they are in perpetual nap mode. This momma thoroughly enjoyed being able to eat meals in peace … while sitting … with the luxury of actually chewing … and savoring food. It’s the simple things, people.

So the 100th day celebration, or baek-il (백일), is sort of a big deal. (But not as big as the 1st birthday, which I will have to plan come Fall!) We decided to keep our celebration modest (easy) and just had lunch at Jang Su Jang with some family. Again, the second child shaft. We did, however, keep with tradition and eat sweet rice cakes at Rice Cake Factory after lunch. At least we can say we did that!

The many faces of Amelia Ruth

And not only is today Amelia’s 100th day celebration, but it also happens to be James’ birthday! I couldn’t ask for a more loving and supportive husband or a better father to our two adorable children (even though he insists on embarrassing them via incriminating Facebook posts). Happiest day to both my loves!

Looking back on 2013, it was a big year for the Kim family. We bought a home with too many smoke detectors, I got knocked up and had a baby, James leased a car that beeps when you reverse, and Isaiah developed the habit of singing Happy Birthday any time he sees a candle. And as if that wasn’t enough fun, my parents moved to Korea after living in the States for 33 years. No biggie.

One of the things they seem to miss the most about being away from their home (besides me and their grandchildren of course … okay maybe not me but definitely the grandkids), is their persimmon tree. Or rather persimmon trees (multiple); they had 6 in total. You see, their home was in the boonies of Augusta (Hephzibah, actually) and they had clear open spaces to grow all sorts of sundries: lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, sesame leaves, squashes, pears, peaches, the list goes on and on. (They even went through a phase where they raised chickens so I was privy to fresh eggs!)

But of all their home grown treasures, their persimmon trees were their pride and joy (followed closely by their Asian pear trees). After many years of careful cultivation, they finally started to bear glorious fruit. Every winter for the past eight years, the trees would explode with the brightly colored persimmons, just waiting to be picked and loaded into boxes and bags for happy consumption. They would have so many that they would invite friends to come over and take what they could pick. It wasn’t just my parents that eagerly anticipated the persimmon harvest, it was all their close persimmon loving friends, too.

So when my parents’ house recently went on the market and sold (on December 31!), I suppose I should not have been so surprised when my parents told me that they were going to uproot three of their persimmon trees and move them to my aunt’s house nearby. And I should not have been in disbelief when my aunt told me that they actually did move the trees and plant them at her house. True gangsta persimmon love.

My parents and a young Isaiah by one of their beloved persimmon trees

While persimmons aren’t as popular in the west, they are abundant in the east. Koreans go nuts in the winter for some persimmons, or 감 (gahm) as they call it. If you’ve never tried one, check out an Asian grocery store or farmer’s market. Alternatively, you could befriend some Koreans and they may be able to hook you up.